Steering committee meeting in progress on Thursday.
MARIGOT–The last steering committee (COPIL) meeting on the revision of the Natural Risks Prevention Plan PPRN took place in Hôtel de la Collectivité on Thursday, October 17. Extensive information and arguments were provided by the eight themed technical committees (COTECH), held in the neighbourhoods in September and October.
Concrete and qualitative proposals have been received and will be compiled to constitute the file on the contribution of the Collectivité to the State’s public enquiry, which will be open until the end of October.
In his introductory speech, President Daniel Gibbs recalled that the purpose of this work was to amend the Natural Risk Prevention Plan implemented early by the State by decree of August 6, 2019.
The work carried out by the Collectivité and its contributors was able to focus on four pillars of sustainable development: social cohesion and the living environment; the economy with the question of economic development and land use planning; culture through the question of cultural heritage; and the environment with the challenge of protecting and enhancing our natural heritage.
The President greeted the participants in the COTECH committees and the moderators for each theme for bringing the focus groups to life and producing constructive proposals, some of which were selected and presented to the steering committee.
“I am satisfied, because this consultation confirms to me the urgent need to hear and take into consideration the sociology and economic ambition of the territories when it comes to decisions such as the implementation of a PPRN,” he said. “But my satisfaction remains relative, because haste is never a good thing. We had to submit to an extremely short deadline for the State’s public enquiry, which ends on the 31st of this month.”
The President will hand-deliver the Collectivité’s contribution to the investigating commissioners next week. These elements will be officially recorded as part of the investigation. The Territorial Council meeting of Thursday, November 7, will propose a deliberation that will ratify the recommendations resulting from this work within a legal framework.
As a reminder, the Collectivité filed an ex-gratia appeal with the Ministry of Overseas Territories on September 16, so that the PPRN could be cancelled in advance, while a revised version could be applied to build a better developed PPRN, more responsive to the social, economic and security challenges.
The President also met with the Minister for Overseas Annick Girardin during his last visit to Paris in early October to present her with the arguments and convince her of the need to obtain an additional six-month period to draw up a PPRN close to the realities on the ground and the aspirations of the people of St. Martin.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/91839-last-steering-committee-meeting-held-to-wrap-up-pprn-changes
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